My walk today took me into the valleys and undulations of the edge of the Deliblatska Peščara.
After a very generous breakfast I headed off with the remains of my breakfast packaged up by Zuzana in plastic bags, these provided me with my lunch and dinner. On leaving town I followed a long, dry valley with grassy sides and an occasional stand of trees. Inevitably I encountered a flock of sheep. Immediately on seeing me the sheepdogs neglected their sheep herding duties and raced towards me barking. I stood still and the dogs stopped a metre or so away. The 23rd psalm came to mind, the bit about "my rod and my staff will comfort me", or just my walking stick in my case. The sheep ran off as a group no doubt catching the shepherd's attention as he gave ineffectual commands to call off the dogs (or maybe he told them to keep a close eye on me). We exchanged "Dober Dans" (good day) and he asked some question, possibly what I was doing here. I wish I had asked the kind student last night to write down "I am an English hiker walking through Serbia" so I could show people. As always I thought of things I should have asked about 12 hours too late. Also in the dry valley was a building with a very deep well and a capstan arrangement for lifting buckets of water. I later saw similar old wells in the village of Vladimirovci. I was surprised that the ground water level was so deep.
After the valley it was undulating fields, some with stubble, some ploughed and some with standing maize. Harvesters were busy at work making good use of the dry if windy weather. The wind was blowing up dust storms behind any moving vehicle. The village of Vladimirovci seemed pleasant, especially the bars and cafes with chairs outside where I stopped for a coffee. My impression of the town was somewhat spoiled by the rubbish tipped beside the track I took on leaving the village (although no worse than what you get in my home area of South Wales). Beside the path to the next village of Alibunar they were busy preparing what looked like well pads, for I presume oil or gas wells. They were spaced at regular distances and pile drivers were hammering down the conductor pipe for the first three sites. In the distance there were a line of wind turbines. Despite the wind none of them were turning. Efforts to produce fossil fuel and renewable energy within sight of each other.
The undulating hills of the area are dunes of windblown loess (silt). In places, especially close to Alibunar, the track cut a little "gorge" through the soft sediment. You could see the burrows made by animals in it, as well as some man made caves.
I had hoped to find some accommodation in Alibunar but the hotel on Google did not exist or had long since closed, and I was told the Tourist Information office had also closed for the day. After posing for some "selfies" with some passing kids, a group of locals with some useful English and a good knowledge of British Premier league teams pontificated on the accommodation options in Alibunar and agreed there were none. It was however agreed that the grass and tree covered, sandy hills of the Deliblatska Peščara would be a good place to camp if a bit far away to walk. So declining an offer of beer I headed off being careful not to cross the zebra crossing unless the "green man" was illuminated (they told me the police were very keen on prosecuting people for "jay walking").
I headed along my planned route to the said hills until stopped by a section of track too overgrown to penetrate. A lengthy detour followed passed fields where harvesters were working late into the evening. I could still hear them from my tent after dark from where I pitched on a grassy (if somewhat tussocky) area among the trees, although a bright half moon was shedding some light. I could also hear the distant barking of a dog and some creature howling. Apparently, not so long ago there were still wolves in this area...
A GPS file of the route I took can be found on wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0023, and on Wandermap.net. I covered 41.4 kilometres today, more than planned due to the lack of accommodation in Alibunar.
After a very generous breakfast I headed off with the remains of my breakfast packaged up by Zuzana in plastic bags, these provided me with my lunch and dinner. On leaving town I followed a long, dry valley with grassy sides and an occasional stand of trees. Inevitably I encountered a flock of sheep. Immediately on seeing me the sheepdogs neglected their sheep herding duties and raced towards me barking. I stood still and the dogs stopped a metre or so away. The 23rd psalm came to mind, the bit about "my rod and my staff will comfort me", or just my walking stick in my case. The sheep ran off as a group no doubt catching the shepherd's attention as he gave ineffectual commands to call off the dogs (or maybe he told them to keep a close eye on me). We exchanged "Dober Dans" (good day) and he asked some question, possibly what I was doing here. I wish I had asked the kind student last night to write down "I am an English hiker walking through Serbia" so I could show people. As always I thought of things I should have asked about 12 hours too late. Also in the dry valley was a building with a very deep well and a capstan arrangement for lifting buckets of water. I later saw similar old wells in the village of Vladimirovci. I was surprised that the ground water level was so deep.
After the valley it was undulating fields, some with stubble, some ploughed and some with standing maize. Harvesters were busy at work making good use of the dry if windy weather. The wind was blowing up dust storms behind any moving vehicle. The village of Vladimirovci seemed pleasant, especially the bars and cafes with chairs outside where I stopped for a coffee. My impression of the town was somewhat spoiled by the rubbish tipped beside the track I took on leaving the village (although no worse than what you get in my home area of South Wales). Beside the path to the next village of Alibunar they were busy preparing what looked like well pads, for I presume oil or gas wells. They were spaced at regular distances and pile drivers were hammering down the conductor pipe for the first three sites. In the distance there were a line of wind turbines. Despite the wind none of them were turning. Efforts to produce fossil fuel and renewable energy within sight of each other.
The undulating hills of the area are dunes of windblown loess (silt). In places, especially close to Alibunar, the track cut a little "gorge" through the soft sediment. You could see the burrows made by animals in it, as well as some man made caves.
I had hoped to find some accommodation in Alibunar but the hotel on Google did not exist or had long since closed, and I was told the Tourist Information office had also closed for the day. After posing for some "selfies" with some passing kids, a group of locals with some useful English and a good knowledge of British Premier league teams pontificated on the accommodation options in Alibunar and agreed there were none. It was however agreed that the grass and tree covered, sandy hills of the Deliblatska Peščara would be a good place to camp if a bit far away to walk. So declining an offer of beer I headed off being careful not to cross the zebra crossing unless the "green man" was illuminated (they told me the police were very keen on prosecuting people for "jay walking").
I headed along my planned route to the said hills until stopped by a section of track too overgrown to penetrate. A lengthy detour followed passed fields where harvesters were working late into the evening. I could still hear them from my tent after dark from where I pitched on a grassy (if somewhat tussocky) area among the trees, although a bright half moon was shedding some light. I could also hear the distant barking of a dog and some creature howling. Apparently, not so long ago there were still wolves in this area...
A GPS file of the route I took can be found on wikiloc.com, it can also be found on ViewRanger.com as route johnpon0023, and on Wandermap.net. I covered 41.4 kilometres today, more than planned due to the lack of accommodation in Alibunar.
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| Track up dry valley near Padina |
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| Typical fields and pylons disappearing into distance |
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